Kathmandu Call for Action to End Child Marriage in South Asia

11.21.14 - On
November 7, 2014, over 65 regional stakeholders in South Asia endorsed a
document named the “Kathmandu Call for Action to End Child Marriage in South
Asia”, which makes an appeal to governments in the region to ensure legal
accountability for child marriage and will support the implementation of a
regional action plan to end child marriage from 2015-2018. The document is a
product of a regional convening on using the law to end child marriage, which
focused on how the lack of government accountability for child marriage is
contributing to human rights violations against young girls and women. The
convening was organized by the Center in collaboration with the South Asia
Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC), and hosted by the
Ministry of Women, Children, and Social Welfare of the Government of Nepal.
Representatives from member states of the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka - participated in the convening, which was supported by
the Ford Foundation and UNFPA Asia Pacific Regional Office.